“Outpost Six … invaders … need … there are ...”

That was 12 hours ago and the computers couldn't clean up the distress call any cleaner than that. It was deep space and she was probably the first to receive that transmission. The message didn't transmit in real time though the communications systems on military craft were usually fitted with communications that allowed for instant and near instant transmissions to assist in communications. Such systems were expensive though and generally used only in the military though wealthy people sometimes had them in their yachts or access to such communications when necessary.

The attack on the outpost was probably over about 12 hours back or in dire need of assistance if they managed to hold out that long. These outposts weren't heavily armed but they did have some defenses to deter typical threats meaning whatever was attacking could deal with that but might need time to whittle away shields and such … the outpost being so remote was probably a factor too, perhaps they didn't factor in any assistance while they were there.

The question was though why there, why that outpost? It was no different then any other and if it were the personnel there were easier means to get individuals as skill.

Officially there were no orders yet either, it would probably be a few more hours for the signal to reach any one else. Closer ships were probably those of outlaws and pirates that were hiding out after all. The sort that might pick over the bones but while a situation was hot they'd keep clear, like a scavenger waiting out a predator to finish with a kill before moving in.

Vidalia hadn't even considered it. There was no thought, she checked the distance, determined that she was the closest ship, and immediately punched in the coordinates. She let the navigational computer determine a route, hit accept, and felt the thrusters kick in. Sure, it would be a long ride there but noone else was going to be getting there any quicker save for some outlaws and she could handle them easily enough. This probably isn't going to be a good situation at all and once the ship is on course she rises, heading back towards her workstation to check over her weaponry and gear. A good rifle and pistol would do most of what she needed...with plenty of ammo of course. She also secures a few fighting knives with the rest of her gear...of course she's not going to put it all on yet, that can all wait until she's about to land

And then, of course, she remembers to send the message to base, informing them that she is en route to the outpost. Working with an actual team isn't something she's used to and the hour or so delay in her message will mean that her backup will be just a little later... Then again, it might not mean anything at all if other ADD agents had responded as she had.

Her gear seen too and message sent her vessel did not have the luxury of real time communication yet but there was less of a delay with hers than other transmissions open to the public. In time perhaps if the ADD deemed it necessary they would upgrade her vessels communications as they had with some other ships, those that needed it most though those that stayed in heavily trafficked areas or did stuff were communications were few then the upgrade was not necessary

When he got into system she got the readout of Outpost Six with hr passive scans.

There were sections that had been damaged by lasers she could assume given the destruction of a portion of the station and thermal readouts. Space debris drifted in space and the lights were off in that section.

From her readings there was power to the station, life support had been working though weapons and shields were down.

She could cheek their communications but if there was something still there she gave up the element of surprise. Docking at the damaged portion of the station and working out from there may have been her best bet.

Vidalia looks over the situation almost coldly, staring at the readouts on the outpost with a sigh. "Damn." she mutters. This sure isn't going to be good. She pilots her ship towards the dock, taking a moment to gather her weaponry and ammunition before completing the procedure. Surprisingly, the dock still works and she's able to link up with the station. She waits at the airlock, rifle shouldered...and finds nothing on the other side. It's rather odd every time this happens, as if she expects to be attacked right at the airlock. She proceeds with caution, her rifle always up and at the ready, finger just an inch from the trigger. Whatever did this must still be here, to assume otherwise would probably end up badly for her.

The airlock still worked, the power to it was drawn from elsewhere though it had to be some sort of emergency power. There was nothing waiting for her on the other side of the door and it seemed that a generator had to have been destroyed in this section.

There was emergency power to the airlocks and life support but navigating was tough without lights and she had to stay close to the wall. Fortunately the damaged section wasn't too great and she had managed to get into the functioning part of the station.

Creeping around she would discover scorch marks on the walls in places from blaster fire. She even discovered machinery at one point … droids.

Damaged from blaster fire the droids had no arms, each being blasters instead equivalent to her rifle. They had no legs either and moved through some sort of anti gravity or repulsor power.

Whatever security had been here a few managed to deal with some of the invaders. From a corridor nearby though she would here machinery, similar to a vaccuum cleaner. It stopped and there was a scrapping sound before the vac cumming began a new. It was slowly getting closer whatever I was.

Vidalia almost shoots the first droid she sees...but they're harmless. Instead, she ignores them, continuing on through the station slowly. She can hear a noise...machinery? It must be...and it's getting closer. She tenses, finding herself some cover and setting up, waiting to see what would come around the corner as she waits. Whatever it is sounds loud...is it big? It might be. Again, it's hard to tell. No point in calling out either. It might be hostile and it might...might do something unexpected. Just in case it is large, she readies a few EMP grenades. She can't use actual explosives out here, not on a station like this.

Getting cover she had plenty of time as the machine had to advance, turn slightly and reverse and advance and reverse again as it came from around a corridor. It was a droid, the size of a small van. Wheeled too on treads it eventually drove up to a downed droid and used grapplers to grab it. The front was large and opened though it made a noise similar to a vacuum cleaner as it moved.

That sound halted, replaced by the crunching sound as it sucked up a droid and moved to the next, oblivious hat she was there or if it were it ignored her. Many droids were stupid in that if it wasn't part of their programming it ignored it. AI was truly frightening since it could adapt to a situation.

It was some sort of machine used to clean up the damaged droids, probably to return them to be fixed later. It did not appear to be armed at all save for he graspers which were no more than four arms used to manipulate things crudely. It seemed rather straight forward as far as what it was used for. It could have been as simple as collecting scrap metal and circuitry.

It seemed more like a hassle to deal with since it wasn't a threat as easy as it were to take out. If it were here then there were others around or someone planned on returning to retrieve it. The corridor it came down was narrower and though the machine would have no trouble navigating it it would have trouble making turns out of it into the larger corridor it was now in.

The way it came lead into little used storage areas and some of the labs of the scientists that were working on smaller projects. It was probably a short cut too through one side of the station to the other, sort of like a pizza with lines going from one side to a central point where one could choose from there which way to go. At the center was likely to be a power core of some sort.

She ignores the droid once she sees what it's doing. There's no point in attacking something that isn't going to attack her. Instead she continues down the corridor once it has passed. She glances around herself, shouldering her rifle and looking for threats. It seems that there are none to be found yet. She follows the scrap-bot's path, moving quickly and quietly until she reaches the central hub of the station. She braces herself against the door, breathing deeply and then reaching to punch a control, opening the door so she can sweep through and surprise any hostiles she may find.

The corridor is clean of any droids and scraps making it easy to travel down. She eventually winds up a a central point, a rounded room with eight doors each facing a particular corridor that leads to it. Bracing her self the door opens into the reactor of the station.

The middle of the floor is cut away and the reactor is actually below this level. She finds that there is a wide cat-walk her though several ladders that lead down to the reactor as well one beside each door leading into here and each with a work station and computer terminal.

Nearly straight across from her are two security droids that she had previously seen though these ones active responding to the opening door though with a lag, not expecting anything and coming out of standby mod once a threat is identified and analyzed.

A green humanoid droid is on that side of the chamber at one of the computers doing something and it too responds to her presence. It responds a bit quicker, in an active mode it seeks to grab cover.

ELIMINATE! It orders the two others.

Her gut tells her that the green droid needs eliminated first, but it's already diVing for cover before she has a chance to target it. The other two will have to do.

The agent opens fire, plugging one droid before she too reaches cover. She lets it fire at her a few times, then pops up and pours bullets into its head until it goes down. She rises then, moving to new cover and aiming towards where she last saw the green droid.

"Who do you work for?" She calls out, then thinks better of it. "Who built you? Who owns you droid?" She fires a few shots at the cover it is behind before slipping into a new position and waiting.

If she's lucky, she might get some answers from it, though it's doubtful.

One droid is caught, hit straight off the bat and falls in a sparking heap down the reactor shaft. The other flies forth hovering in the air as it poured forth a constant stream of fire. There was not much cover barring the railing to prevent spills into it and the computers themselves where the green droid was near now.

Shots were fired between her and the security droid as she dashed from cover to cover. Shots blasting into the railing as she moved, the security droid, despite having no cover, was good at calculating her shots and weaved as she called out to the green droid.

No answer. Then her shots hit the hovering droid causing it to plummet into the reactor. Silence followed and without anything shooting at her she could see the green droid pressing up against a turned computer It did not have the best cover and she could probably take it out though it had not fired …

Either it was waiting for a better shot, no wait, it was not even trying to aim at her …

DESIST. I SURRENDER.

A trick? Maybe though it had made no move currently though it occurred to her that it may not be armed … not jut that but it surrendered? Self preservation? It either wasn't a droid or an AI.

No matter what it is, she keeps her rifle trained on it. "Hands in the air." She orders. He rhapsody the techs can disassemble it and learn something even if it doesn't want to talk. "What are you doing here?" She asks. "Who do you work for?" She begins to advance on it, her finger laying just above the trigger. It wouldn't take but a split second to begin pouring rounds into it.

The agent glances around herself, trying to figure out how take the thing captive. "What's your mission?" Keep asking it questions and she might get an answer.

It complied, hands going up as she kept a bead on it and drew closer. The thing had one optical sensor on it's face with no eye or mouth which had not been a huge surprise. The first question asked and I hesitated half a second before moving to answer.

MONITORING SEVERAL FUNCTIONS OF THE STATION AND ALLOCATING POWER WHERE NECESSARY. ATTEMPTING TO CUT POWER TO A SPECIFIC SECTION …

Trying? It had not particularly said how successful it was put turning off power to an area from here should be easy, right? But assuming it spoke the truth was there some sort of security feature that kept power gong o an area where they were attempting to neutralize?

Though it had proved that it was some sort of AI with it's answer or not a machine but she was pretty certain that it was a droid given the mechanical voice. There was not much around save for the railings and computers though there were some smaller crates housing tools for easy access and repair of the computers and reactor. There were also pare parts in other crates scattered about, again for easy access. Wires and cables could be found in those, welders too …

I OPERATE FOR MASTER VEN … it changed the question as to who it worked for, so it was owned. If it were a simple droid it may have not even supplied an answer or would have stated no one. Se could suppose that it had greater operating systems and an AI sophisticated enough to take self preservation into account assuming that it was not obeying an order it was given now or years ago if it was endanger. To do as it was probably indicated that it had to have better reasoning skills than most.

She steps closer to the thing, aiming right at that sensor. "What is in that section?" She asks, her voice low and dangerous. She suspects that she knows, but verification would be nice.

After a moments thought she decides not to bind this mechanical thing. She can talk to it, ask it questions, then destroy it with trouble to her conscience. It is just a robot after all.

"Who is Ven?" She asks a moment later, circling the robot and easing her finger onto the trigger.

"I'd be truthful were I in your position. Answer me. "

It was secured and targeted as she asked her questions. The single blue light of the optical sensor tracked her movements as she moved and though it had though answers as quick as those questions were asked it had no rushed to answer them, nor was there a noticeable delay in it's response time as if it were programmed to have speech patterns like any other humanoid, perhaps as a means of seeing more human-like, though it's appearance hinted that an alien species must have designed it if it were in anyone's image.

AN ARTIFCACT WAS RECENTLY CLAIMED BY THE SCIENTISTS OF THIS STATION FROM A GHOST SHIP. WE WERE DEPLOYED TO RETRIEVE IT FOR VEN.

It analyzed the question about Ven a moment longer though as if determining what to share or what she would find relevant.

VEN IS THE MASTER. HE IS A HEL'CORIAN AND ISSUES TE ORDERS ON THE SHIP. A FORMER MERCENARY.

The Hel'Corian mercenaries were fairly common after all though the information was general it was detailed enough but it assumed that there would be follow up questions.